I've tried numerous Office tools for the Android tablet, but none have made me immediately say, "Wow!" However, that is exactly what I said when I first fired up Kingsoft Office. This is a serious tool with an incredibly familiar interface that will have you viewing and editing .doc, .docx, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, and .pptx files in seconds. It will definitely help you take your office on the go.

What most Kingsoft Office users will appreciate more than anything is the user interface (Figure A). The UI is not only incredibly user-friendly, but it will feel familiar in the hands of anyone who's used Microsoft Office Word, LibreOffice, or just about any Office suite.
Figure A

The main toolbar can be hidden by tapping the icon in the upper left corner. This will give you more screen real estate (if needed).

Installation/usage

The installation of Kingsoft Office is simple:

Open up Google Play

Search for "kingsoft office" (no quotes)

Tap Install

Tap Accept & Download

Once it's installed, you'll find the app in the Application Drawer or as an icon on your home screen. Either way, open it up and get ready to start creating and editing documents.

Connecting to cloud storage

One of the nice features of Kingsoft Office is the built-in Cloud Storage support. You can connect to:

Dropbox

Google Docs

Box.net

To connect Kingsoft Office to your cloud service of choice, follow these steps:

Tap on Cloud Storage

From the list of available services (Figure B), select the cloud you want to connect to

Enter your credentials

Figure B

Obviously, you have to already have an account with one of these services before you set it up here.

Your Office suite is now connected. As for sending documents to your cloud, that's not quite as obvious. Here's how:

Open up (or create) your document

Make your edits or additions

Save the document

In the upper right corner, click the cloud icon (Figure C)

Okay the action

That's it. The file should now be saved to your cloud service of choice.

Figure C

The files and folders you see are on my connected cloud storage, not the device.

The rest of the Kingsoft Office usage is fairly straightforward. If you've used an Office suite, you'll be good to go. Just in case, here are a few quick tips:

The Folders icon will open up the Home directory on your device. Here you can access your "My Documents," SD card, device, and the file manager.

To change to a different document (from the Kingsoft Office main screen), simply swipe your finger to either the left or right. Once your document is in the center position, tap the document to open it.

To go into full-screen Reader Mode, simply tap the Reader button within the document in the upper right-hand corner (Figure D).

Figure D

To get out of full-screen Reader Mode, tap the tablet Back button.

When in either Edit or Reader Mode, you can long-press anywhere in the document and then drag to select a section of text. Once the magnifying glass appears (Figure E), drag your finger to the end of the section, and that entire selection will open, ready to Cut, Copy, or Share.

Figure E

The blue vertical line indicates the beginning of the selection.

Anyone who longs to have a solid Office suite on the go will be more than satisfied with the feature set and performance of Kingsoft Office. Do you use Kingsoft Office on your Android tablet? Share your experience in the discussion thread below.

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About Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.

Full Bio

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.